


White Mutiny

by Megpie71



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Bureaucratic judo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-24
Updated: 2012-07-24
Packaged: 2017-11-10 14:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/467551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megpie71/pseuds/Megpie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tseng explains the Turk position on following orders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Mutiny

Orders are orders; a Turk may not disobey them. It's part of our code - we obey all orders given to the letter, no matter how much we may despise or loathe the person giving us the order. When the President called Veld in and told him Hojo was authorised to give direct orders to the Turks, all Veld could do was to agree. Since then, we've obeyed Hojo's orders to the letter. 

As an example, when Ifalna Gast escaped from the Shinra building with her child, Hojo was furious. Furious enough, in fact, that he ordered the Turks (and I remember this quite clearly) to "find them both". 

So, between all my other duties, I started looking. Ifalna had managed to sneak out of the laboratory area due to a problem in the plumbing - when the little girl needed to use the facilities, she had to use the ones on a different floor. Once they were off the laboratory floor, they attached themselves to a group touring the building (a public relations exercise - such tours were discontinued many years ago) and walked out of the building without raising a fuss. 

I can neither confirm nor deny the rumours of Turks being involved in creating problems in the plumbing. 

The strain of having been tested and experimented upon extensively for months or even years had worn heavily on Ifalna's heart. A few weeks after the escape there were rumours of a woman having collapsed on a train down to Sector Seven. Following those rumours led me to the door of Elmyra Gainsborough, and also to young Aerith. I visited Mrs Gainsborough's house, and spoke with Ifalna's daughter, Aerith. Aerith was insistent she wouldn't return to the Shinra tower or the labs, for which I didn't blame her. I left without pressing the matter.

I had fulfilled my orders. I had found Professor Hojo's missing specimens - or at least, I'd found Aerith, and I was certain the flower bed behind the Gainsborough house was Ifalna's grave. 

I made a written report to my superior officer, explaining the order given to me by the Professor, my contact with Ms Gast-Gainsborough, and my suspicions as to the burial ground of her mother. I made some recommendations regarding the information I supplied. I pointed out no order had been given requiring they be returned to the laboratory area. Neither had any order been given to inform the Professor when their location had been ascertained. No timeframe had been given for the completion of the order, neither had the order been given any great priority. The order had been carried out, and I suggested our best course of action on the matter was to await further orders from the Professor before taking any further action.

It's hardly the fault of the Turks if such a learned man is unfamiliar with precision of language.

**Author's Note:**

> * A white mutiny is a subtype of mutinous behaviour which involves working to rule, following given orders to the letter, without thinking or interpreting those orders, and certainly without going beyond the letter of the order to the spirit. It is often used by intelligent staff as a punishment for micro-managing officers or supervisors, with the subtext effectively being "if you don't want me to think, I won't... but I don't think you'll like it". 
> 
> * I got the idea from what Tseng says as he leaves with Aerith before the plate support is blown in sector 7 - that he'll finally be able to report his success in retrieving the Ancient to the President. Given Aerith appears to have known Tseng for at least ten years, that's a long time to be taking for a retrieval. Unless, of course, the retrieval wasn't Tseng's precise aim.


End file.
